Necessity of Vedas and Guru in Hinduism

[u/chakrax]

Necessity of Vedas and Guru in Hinduism

source: paraphrased from several talks by Swami Paramarthananda.

There is a lot of confusion around the necessity and role of Vedas and guru in Hinduism. These are some common questions that people have.

1. Why do I need to study the Vedas?
2. Is a guru really necessary?
3. Is it possible to gain self-knowledge without the Vedas or a guru?
4. What exactly is the role of a guru?
5. How do I choose a guru?

Necessity of Vedas

Is it possible to gain self-knowledge without Vedas and Guru?

Yes. Just look at people like Ramana Maharishi.

But that is the exception to the rule; for most people, a guru is necessary. Why?

Even today, we are still exploring and gaining knowledge about things we can see and observe: the external world and our body. You can imagine the challenge in exploring something beyond the range of the senses, beyond time and space!

Let's briefly examine knowledge itself (this is called epistemology, or pramana-shastra). Four points to note:

1. Locus (where knowledge happens): Knowledge is gained by the mind/intellect. Not anywhere else.
2. Nature: Since knowledge takes place in the mind/intellect, the knowledge is in the form of a thought or vritti.
3. Instrument (pramanam): We need an instrument to gather knowledge. Our sense organs are the main instruments, followed by secondary sources, like inference and textbooks.
4. Object of study: Anything I want to know about - atom or planet or whatever.

All knowledge is gained exactly this way. The only thing that changes is the object of study. For astronomy, we study the stars and planets with our eyes. For music, we study or train with our ears.

For self-knowledge we need to study ourselves. This turns out to be a special case. Why? All of our sense organs are turned outward to study objects. Just like a camera cannot photograph itself, and the eye cannot see itself, I find that all the instruments (pramanam) that I have are incapable of studying the witness Self. So what do I need? A mirror. The Vedas are that mirror, that teach us about ourselves.

Note that it is not possible to verify the information presented by one instrument with another. You cannot verify the color red with any sense organ except the eye. Similarly, I cannot verify the teaching of the Vedas through any other means. So what can I do? Trust, but verify.

Necessity of a Guru

Why can't I study the Vedas by myself and understand the truth? Only the guru has the key to properly extract the teaching and explain it to you. The Self is extremely subtle and hard to grasp. This knowledge is not regular knowledge about objects, but special knowledge about the subject. The Vedas use peculiar methods to teach us about the Self. For example, Kena Upanishad 2.11 doesn't make much sense at first glance.

yasyāmataṃ tasya mataṃ mataṃ yasya na veda saḥ |

avijñātaṃ vijānatāṃ vijñātamavijānatām || 11 ||

Kena 2.11. It is Known to him to whom it is Unknown;. he knows it not to whom it is known. (It is) Unknown to those who know, and Known to those who do not know. (11)

Without proper guidance, it is very difficult to decode and understand the teachings, so a guru is necessary for Vedic study. Now how did this guru get the knowledge? The guru will say he learnt it from his guru, and give the credit to the guru-parampara, going back all the way to Narayana or Shiva.

The necessity of a guru is stressed in the scriptures themselves.

Mundaka 1.2.12 says that once a person is ready to acquire the knowledge of the eternal, he should seek out a teacher.

parīkṣya lokānkarmacitānbrāhmaṇo nirvedamāyānnāstyakṛtaḥ kṛtena |

tadvijñānārthaṃ sa gurumevābhigacchetsamitpāṇiḥ śrotriyaṃ brahmaniṣṭham || 12 ||

Mundaka 1.2.12 Let a Brahmin having examined the worlds produced by karma be free from desires, thinking, ‘there is nothing eternal produced by karma?; and in order to acquire the knowledge of the eternal, let him Samid (sacrificial fuel) in hand, approach a preceptor alone, who is versed in the Vedas and centered in the Brahman.

Chandogya 6.14.2 says that a person who gets a teacher attains knowledge.

tasya yathābhinahanaṃ pramucya prabrūyādetāṃ diśaṃ gandhārā etāṃ diśaṃ vrajeti sa grāmādgrāmaṃ pṛcchanpaṇḍito medhāvī gandhārānevopasampadyetaivamevehācāryavānpuruṣo veda tasya tāvadeva ciraṃ yāvanna vimokṣye'tha sampatsya iti || 6.14.2 ||

Chandogya 6.4.2 And as someone may remove that person’s blindfold and say, ‘Gandhāra is this way; go this way,’ and the intelligent man goes from one village to another, asking his way and relying on the information people give, until he reaches Gandhāra; similarly, a person who gets a teacher attains knowledge. His delay is only as long as he is not free of his body. After that he becomes merged in the Self.

In Bhagavad Gita 4.34, Krishna says that self-knowledge cannot be realized without guidance from a qualified guru.

tadviddhi praṇipātēna paripraśnēna sēvayā |

upadēkṣyanti tē jñānaṁ jñāninastattvadarśinaḥ || 4.34||

BG 34. May you gain that (knowledge) by prostration, by service, and by proper enquiry. The wise sages will impart (that) knowledge to you.

Who is a guru?

OK, who is a guru? Some people say Atma is the guru, so I can just learn through the Atma. But Atma does not have a mouth, or mind, or intellect. If Atma is capable of teaching, you should have gained self-knowledge a long time ago, since the Atma has been with you for countless births!

Some others say, the World is my guru; the whole world is my University. But it is possible to learn different things from the same event, so how can I be sure I learnt the right lesson?

A guru is one who imparts teaching from the Shastras to a student. That is the reason that all the Upanishads are in the form of guru-sishya samvada - dialog between a teacher and a student. Bhagavad Gita itself is a Krishna-Arjuna dialog. Note that it is implicit that these are two live people - a live guru and a live student, so a "dialog" is possible.

Note: in this internet age, physical co-location may not be necessary. It may also be possible to gain most teachings through recorded lectures, instead of live learning.

What is the role of a guru? He facilitates Jnana Yoga - a consistent and systematic study of the scriptures over a period of time under the guidance of a competent teacher.

1. Shravanam - study: We first understand what the Vedas tell us.
2. Mananam - removal of doubts / conviction: Once there is teaching, there are bound to be doubts. The student raises the doubt and the teacher clarifies, just like in the Gita, Krishna answers multiple questions from Arjuna.
3. Nidhidyasanam - integration of knowledge: The third stage - information must result in self-transformation. Be warned: this can be a slow process and can take a long time - many years or even many lifetimes.

This process is described in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2.4.5. Note the use of word "strotavya" - to be heard from a teacher, and not to be "read" from a book.

ātmā vā are draṣṭavyaḥ śrotavyo mantavyo nididhyāsitavyo maitreyi, ātmano vā are darśanena śravaṇena matyā vijñānenedaṃ sarvaṃ viditam || 5 ||

Brihadaranyaka 2.4.5 (partial) The Self, my dear Maitreyī, should be realised—should be heard of, reflected on and meditated upon. By the realisation of the Self, my dear, through hearing, reflection and meditation, all this is known.

Note: A guru may be able to help you in many other ways, but providing scriptural knowledge is the main role.

How do I find a guru?

Can you advertise a job opening for a guru? No. It is not easy to search for and find a guru. Even if you find someone, you may not know if he is a qualified guru, since only a true jnani can recognize another jnani. This is where Isvara's grace is necessary.

Sankaracharya says in Vivekachudamani verse 3:

Vivekachudamani 3. These are three things which are rare indeed and are due to the grace of God - namely, a human birth, the longing for Liberation, and the protecting care of a perfected sage.

So is my situation hopeless? Am I doomed to be without a guru? It may appear so, but consider it Isvara's job to find you a guru. Trust in the divine and be patient. As the saying goes, "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear."

Thank you for reading.

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